Here is a list of some of his accomplishments. I would think there are more, if they were known.

1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him.

2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two. Oops! The man can't count to four! His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition), pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea, where a war was raging.

3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris, never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person of his "education" never advancing past the rank of Private!

4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood (with his headlights off after dark). Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959. Amazing!

5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash, and hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed. Didn't hear about that from the "un" biased media, did we?

6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts. At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine, and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.

7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party, passing several houses and a fire station. Two friends then returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew - that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying, Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car. The Kennedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of-state to her family, before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne and he didn't call police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight. Since the accident, Kennedy's "political enemies" have referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS.... Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's insurance policy, and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills... a "token of friendship"?

8. Kennedy has held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, and funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors and is widely held as the "standard-bearer for liberalism". In his very first Senate roll, he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries.

9. Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and author of every expansion of an increase in immigration, up to and including the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court nominees, as if he was the standard bearer for the nation in matters of "what's right".

10. He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than "great American".

Logged

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

I live here in Kennedy-land. They are royalty. This will dominate the news nationwide for a couple days, and then the funeral, but here, it'll be wall-to-wall Kennedy for a week, I'll bet.

I've never been able to figure out what he's done for us here in Massachusetts. Not much, other than lead this bastion of liberalism. Maybe with him gone the balance can be somewhat restored. It'll be interesting to see who runs, and who ultimately replaces him. I think this marginalizes Kerry even more, and that's a good thing! :evil:

I don't wish anyone dead ,however I am glad he is out of the senate .R.I.P. ? Never, he has a murder to answer for.

I have to modify my post. I was trained in a Social Work degree and my religious bringing up to look for the GOOD in everyone, as the bad always sticks out like a sore thumb. So God will be his judge !

.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

He was married at the time of that accident and that girl was rumored to be pregnant.There are many who think the accident was not an accident at all, I could believe that just as I have no problem believing he was just so drunk he went off the road as well.Of course it was all quickly covered up. I don't understand the mentality of the Kennedy family or the "the first family of Massachusetts" Camelot and all that and how they can do no wrong.There was also that nephew who stood trial for raping that girl at the family compound in Hyannis and a few more or maybe even alot more escapades and sexcapades in that family.I feel bad but you get so sick of it all, we will hear about this for the next month, living here in Massachusetts.My husband called me from the supermarket this morning to ask a question and then he said did you hear Ted Kennedy died? I just said, oh yeah, did you get the grapes? and that was the extent of our discussion on him.I think the only one in that family that may have had some decency got killed piloting his wife and sister in law over Martha's Vineyard. He died young and seemed like a good guy but who knows, his sister Caroline does not seemed crooked at this point but that is about all I can say for this family.

Mick not sure where you got the idea of them being a beekeeping family, never heard of that and I am pretty sure we would have.

Reinbeau, have you heard what happened with him wanting to be able to appoint his replacement before his death? There was a big article about it one day in the Patriot Ledger but I never found out if it came to fruition.He wanted Gov.Deval Patrick to have the authority to appoint his replacement with someone he chose and keep the democratic seat from going to a republican if it went to a vote.

"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may remember,involve me and I'll understand" Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways." John F. KennedyFranklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

I must have been typing while Kathy asked that question. I read an artilce in our local newspaper that there was controversy over his asking the legislature to give our Governor the authority to let him choose his replacement and I believe the name of the guy he wanted was printed in that article but I can't rememeber for sure.If I can find it I will post.

But the effort to find a quick replacement for Mr. Kennedy may prove complicated. In the week before his death, reaction in Boston to his request ranged from muted to hostile. The state’s Democrats found themselves in the awkward position of being asked to reverse their own 2004 initiative calling for special elections in such instances.

Until that year, Massachusetts law had called for the governor to appoint a temporary replacement if a Senate seat became vacant. But when Senator John Kerry, a Democrat, was running for president in 2004, the Democrat-controlled State Legislature wanted to deny the governor at the time — Mitt Romney, a Republican — the power to name a successor if Mr. Kerry won. The resulting law requires a special election within 145 to 160 days after the vacancy occurs.

“The hypocrisy is astounding,” the state House minority leader, Bradley H. Jones Jr., told The Boston Globe on Thursday. “If we had a Republican governor right now, would we be getting the same letter?”

they kind of skipped over that part about how kennedy pushed to have the nomination taken from the gov while a republican was in office, but was recently trying to get it switched back.it's good to be king :-D

Logged

.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may remember,involve me and I'll understand" Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways." John F. KennedyFranklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

Absolutely, if they can guarantee a Democrat will take over, they will. Remember, it was back in 2004, when Mitt-baby was in office, that it looked to some as though Kerry would succeed in his bid for the White House, so they changed the rules so Mitt couldn't appoint a Republican to the Senate to fill Kerry's seat. Well, now, the world has turned, so in order to keep that seat Democratic, at least until the elections in 2010, they need to fix it again. The Democratic power in this state is incredible.

So, now, they change the rule back so the governor can appoint anyone - that's right, anyone - to the Senate. There's all kinds of speculation going on, but the one that caught my ear today is this: Cadillac Deval turns the reigns over to Murray and appoints himself! There's no way he's getting another term here, his approval rating is in the tank bigtime....what better way to switch jobs before getting 'fired'? :roll: In this state I absolutely wouldn't be surprised. :roll: :roll:

.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

Great Ann, thats all we would need if gov.patrick gets that seat. He would never stand a chance at winning another election for govenor so he would need to do this to stay in office around here.I don't know if anyone has heard of ameriquest mortgage company but they are extremely crooked and are not allowed to do business in massachusetts any longer and were fined millions of dollars by the division of banks, last I heard Connecticut was doing the same to them.

Our esteemed Governor Deval Patrick is on the board of ameriquest. They ripped alot of people off in this state with their business practices and he allowed it.

There was a protest at his office a while back where people who were losing their houses because their mortgages were not what they were told or the terms were changed illegally or something like that and the mortgage company refused all contact with them so showed up with picket signs and demanded he come out and talk to them. They wanted to know what was going on.I saw pictures of it online last year, he refused to come out of his office all day, sending his aides out to talk to them but he eventually had to leave but didn't give these people the time of day.

That is definitely the kind of person we want running our state. I don't feel like the republicans will ever get a foothold in this state they way the democrats keep passing the torch.

.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

Michael Skakel. The girl's name was Martha. Yep, found it on Wikipedia:

"Michael C. Skakel (born September 19, 1960) was convicted in 2002 of the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley, his fifteen-year-old neighbor in Greenwich, Connecticut. Skakel is the nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy, the widow of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy."

he probably would not have qualified for a treason charge for the same reason kerry didn't when he did the N vietnam thing.

we have generally accepted that treason can not take place outside of a declared war. the constitution is not entirely clean on this:

Article 3 section 3

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

courts have generally only upheld the charge of treason in declared wars.

kerry might have been a squeaker. we were fighting, and the case might have been made, but no one thought to do it.

Logged

.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

So maybe or maybe not was he guilty of treason but I think we can all agree he was way out of line on this thing and helping our enemy at the time. He should have had to answer to that as well but like everything else he didn't merely because his last name was Kennedy.

No charges were brought up and he was allowed to be in the Senate for 40 YEARS despite his moral and political indiscretions. To me it makes the citizens of Massachusetts look ridiculous.

How did the name Kennedy rise to royalty when they made their name and money on criminal activities to begin with?

How did the name Kennedy rise to royalty when they made their name and money on criminal activities to begin with?

a lot of people made money on illegal activities. prohibition was the financial start for many old families.

i do not think there would be a Kennedy legend if not for the assassinations. history would already have written JFK off as largely a failure and would have long ago investigated the goings on of bobby.

instead, they jumped on J. Edgar, who, as it turns out, had really good reasons to be concerned about what was going on in the WH.

eventually history corrects itself and the truth is coming out.

morally and practically, they probably did a lot of the right things. legally, they did some stuff really that makes your hair stand up.

Logged

.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

the fact that MA elected Ted into the Senate for 40 years is a disgrace. The Kennedy's are not deserving of the title of royalty. Quite the opposite. They are just common criminals.

Even if a treason conviction was not possible he should have been held accountable. He directly tried to contaminate our efforts to disarm our enemies. Only because his last name was Kennedy was he allowed to continually break the law and not be held accountable.

He is hopefully smoking a turd in hell with Hitler as I write this.

The way I see it is that anyone who voted for him is ignorant or an accessory to his crimes.

Unfortunately there are quite a few Kennedy supporters here in MA. Anyone who votes Republican really hasn't had anyone to vote for for years and years, not since Ed Brooke, I think, and I was too young then to know where he stood on things.

The Kennedy family financialy supported terrorism in Northern Ireland for years. It did not stop until 911 when Bush appealed for a united front against terrorism and the Brits said OK but what about the Tamany Hall IRA support and it finally ended.